Chapter 153: Act 86 – The Undead and the King (Part 1)
Under the moonlight, the rider appeared like a translucent crystal statue, glowing faintly beneath a fine layer of dust. Armed with a silver lance, it circled around the outer perimeter of the shrine before vanishing from view on the other side of the wall, the entire process silent. Just from this fleeting glimpse, Brendel had basically confirmed the general attributes of this ghostly knight — a territorial monster, and in an instant, he determined his strategy.
He turned around to face the thirteen pairs of eyes, each with varying shades of color — hesitation and nervousness mixed in, including the captain Husher. The mercenaries could not help but hold their breath, quietly waiting for his command. The noble young lady covered her mouth with her hand, coughed a couple of times softly, and then took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
But only one pair of tea-brown eyes, bright as stars in the sky, showed no fear or hesitation — her gaze was still fixed on the shrine, filled with enthusiasm. Brendel’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively paid a little more attention to this lady, wary that she might quietly slip away on her own in her excitement. For someone who called herself ‘Lord Romaine,’ such impulsiveness didn’t seem unlikely.
It was as if, for her, the world posed no danger at all.
Sometimes Brendel couldn’t help but wonder how that unseen Aunt had raised Little Romain to have this character; he thought that a normal family probably wouldn’t have such capability. However, it was clearly not the time to ponder this, so he turned back and said, “The tactic is actually quite simple.” He parted the bushes, glanced around, and then raised his sword, pointing towards a hillside, “Do you see that Golan-Elsen black pine? You’ll ambush from there, and the rest is simply waiting for me to draw it over.”
Just like that?
Everyone was taken aback.
“But… what are we supposed to do, Lord?” Husher asked doubtfully.
Brendel glanced at him, thinking that there shouldn’t even be a need for teaching; since they had already entered the ambush zone, all that was left was to fight hard! However, this was exactly where players differed from these natives; players wouldn’t care about the rules — they would just strike first and ask questions later, after all, the worst that could happen was a character death.
Thus, he paused and replied straightforwardly, “Well… of course, give it your all…” but he suddenly realized the issue at hand and decided to replace it with a simpler explanation, “Alright, put another way, just consider it as if he has a grudge against you for stealing your wife and killing your child.”
Grudge for stealing a wife and killing a child?
Husher was taken aback and couldn’t help but ask in confusion, “But, my lord, to be honest — my woman died long ago in the war against the Crusian.”
Brendel facepalmed and sighed.
“Then just treat him as if he owes your mercenary group a million Tor for services rendered and has no intention of paying —”
Shocked!
The mercenaries of Lubis had never heard of anyone daring to default on their wages since they became renowned. This was simply outrageous, as was said — cutting off someone’s financial means is the same as killing their parents. Not avenging such a grudge would be unthinkable!
Twelve pairs of eyes from the Lubis mercenaries turned blood red, and Husher tightened his grip on his battle axe, declaring loudly, “By Martha, it turns out he’s as disreputable as the Anjurians! Lord, please rest assured, in Lady Martha’s name, we will make that cursed undead regret ever crossing paths with us and teach it that the Lubis people do not tolerate debts lightly!”
Antinna stood by awkwardly listening to the mercenary captain’s boisterous tirade. As Bruglas’s daughter, she had little opportunity to engage with such coarse language, and the filthy meanings behind the insults nearly made her faint. Fortunately, she gritted her teeth and managed to support him. Then, coughing lightly and blushing, she softly said,
“Brendel, the opponent is a legendary ghost knight; can we really defeat it?” After all, the young lady was not like these mercenaries who were Brendel’s summoned beings; they could wholeheartedly believe in him, while she still harbored doubts. After all, Brendel’s plan was too simple; such a straightforward approach — could anyone deal with a ghost knight like that?
They were merely a small group of ordinary mercenaries; none of them were sword masters, great wizards, spellcasters, or elf summoners.
The ghost knight, according to the limited descriptions in literature, displayed power at least on par with a top-tier silver knight, close to the standard of a gold knight. What exactly would they use to fight against such a quasi-golden swordsman? Was it really just ambushing? But an ambush wouldn’t increase anyone’s base combat power. Or was it merely to surprise the opponent?
Alright, even if one could argue that made sense, one would still have to consider that undead creatures typically do not experience fear.
“Of course.” Brendel, however, stuffed her question with a nonchalant answer.
“Why?”
Antinna couldn’t help but ask.
“Don’t worry, it won’t attack us — to be precise, it can’t hit us.”
“Can’t hit us?” The noble young lady was dumbfounded; what sort of reasoning was that? Why could the ghost knight not hit? Was it physically incapable? Or was that knight actually a pacifist? For a moment, she couldn’t help but feel anger; this wasn’t the time for jokes. However, she recalled Brendel’s impressive track record, and even the most absurd things seemed reasonable in his hands.
Yet what was most unbelievable was that he proved his correctness every single time.
Realizing this, Antinna suddenly thought she should calm down a bit. Still, she couldn’t help but mutter quietly, “Such an explanation, I, I can’t accept; I am your aide, my lord…”
Brendel shrugged, finding it hard to explain this.
Because few monsters patrol along fixed routes, it indicated that this ghost knight had a strong sense of territory. But in games, this type of monster has another term — territorial monsters. These monsters share a common characteristic: they wander within their fixed area, and once they touch the so-called ‘territorial boundary,’ regardless of what is happening at that moment, they will immediately turn back.
Such monsters are rarely found in games, as this forced setting can easily be exploited by players who use loopholes in the rules to kill monsters that are much higher than their levels.
Thus, most territorial monsters are exceptionally fierce and often of the ranged biological category — for example, the sealed black dragon in Kanurol Canyon, the Seven Extremes Dragon King, Fyseacaes. The Dog God Aglest’s teacher, maliciously nicknamed ‘Master’ by players, although the sealing area only spanned three miles, its attack range reached out to a hundred miles, making it one of the strongest territorial monsters in North Vaunte.
Another category is even more twisted, being monsters that cannot be killed outside of their domain. For example, the Earth Spirit Kao.
But Brendel also knew about a third type of territorial monster, one limited by the story or quest, that allowed for a significantly stronger creature to reasonably appear in a lower-level region, so that players of a corresponding level might possibly defeat this quest boss. Clearly, this ghost knight was the last type. Of course, when players first tackled this quest, their knowledge of the ‘Amber Sword’ was evidently not as profound later on, so they adopted a brute force approach in their guides.
But to Brendel, it didn’t need to be so troublesome.
Although he felt a little regret because even in a direct confrontation, he could take down the ghost knight. However, since the original setup was ‘story-related death,’ the equipment dropped from the monster would decrease by fifty percent, which was no small matter. Essentially, it meant completely deducting the over-level rewards, even exceeding some.
Brendel didn’t know how this world was set up, but according to his previous experience, it was safe to assume it was roughly the same.
He lowered his head, staring unblinkingly into Antinna’s tea-brown eyes — he actually knew why the ghost knight couldn’t stray too far from the shrine. These malevolent spirits were born from the ancient elves’ king’s undaunted resistance against oppression, but Martha had sealed this altar before they could emanate from their nest. Historically, many high-ranking priests and monks perished during that incident, which had made the royal family reluctant to mention this long-hidden secret. On the other hand, sealed altars no longer provided magical energy, so the evil spirits couldn’t sustain themselves.
It seemed that this altar still had a trace of aura left, which was why it hadn’t crumbled immediately, but it could only linger around the shrine.
However, while this seemed simple to explain, it involved knowledge of souls and the cores of magical energy. Brendel was a player unrestrained by taboos, but this knowledge was one of the core teachings of the Temple of Fire, relating to the contracts between humans and spirits, which was also the source of their power. He wasn’t a highly-skilled theological master; pretending to be a half-baked wizard with the identity of a highland knight was one thing, but if he opened his mouth to elaborate on these matters, Antinna, as sharp as she was, would probably start doubting him.
Moreover, the young lady was so perceptive.
“Perhaps I just feel that the ghost knight seems a bit amiable, and maybe it won’t attack us?” Finally, after pondering for a moment, he earnestly replied.
“Lord Brendel.”
Antinna took a deep breath.
“Alright,” Brendel patted her shoulder, “Don’t be nervous. Learn from Little Romain; trust me, when have I ever lied?”
Learn from Romain?
Antinna couldn’t help but glance back at the business lady, who was distractedly looking towards the shrine, seemingly anticipating the second glimpse of that ghost knight.
“I feel it happens often…” she finally sighed in discontent, but the young lady also knew that Brendel had never been wrong about anything — as if he could foresee the outcomes of all matters.
Brendel smiled, knowing she had been persuaded. He waved his hand for the others to move, then borrowed a heavy crossbow from Husher, stepping on it to draw the string — when it came to drawing monsters, heavy crossbows were treasures among players. But Husher watched his actions with a furrowed brow and couldn’t help but say, “Lord, why don’t I go draw that undead over instead?”
“No need, I’m an expert in this area,” Brendel confidently patted the heavy crossbow, making the string snap loudly, as if it could fire the warning arrow at any moment.
Husher watched in horror, thinking this young lord looked more and more like an amateur; otherwise, he wouldn’t have made such an inappropriate suggestion. After all, saying so in Vaunte could imply he looked down on his lord. In this age where a noble’s reputation was more important than life, such an accusation was serious.
But he couldn’t just watch his lord go to his death.
Fortunately, Antinna noticed the mercenary captain’s concern and couldn’t help but whisper, “My lord, is that okay?”
Brendel looked at her strangely, “What’s the problem?”
The young lady was caught off guard, almost rolling her eyes.
But Brendel chuckled, “Alright, I know what you’re worried about. But if we get the ‘ghost knight’ crystal, I’ll treat you all to the most luxurious inn in Ampere Seale for a debauchery —”
Ghost knight crystal?
The two were taken aback. What was that? What did debauchery mean?
……
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